With data rates increasing and network capacities on the rise, the amount of network traffic processed by a network element continues to increase. Along with processing payload traffic (i.e., data communications packets) the network elements are required to process operations, administration, and management (OAM) traffic. The network elements typically include a processor card for processing data and tributary cards for receiving and transmitting data. Generally, the tributary cards receive OAM traffic and transfer the OAM traffic to the shelf processor card of the network element for processing.
The shelf processor card maintains routing information for the optical network and accesses the routing information to determine the appropriate path for the OAM traffic. This form of centralized routing has served industry well; however, as the amount of OAM traffic continues to increase, an improvement in routing OAM packets is needed to reduce the OAM processing load of the shelf processor card. One solution is to increase the processing capabilities of the shelf processor card. However, this approach leads to increases in design and manufacturing costs of the network element.